Hot and Dry or Warm and Wet?

Here are some facts and figures about the temperature here. (I made some nice little tables, but I lost the formatting when I pasted them in here, so you don't get to see 'em!)

Katherine--February 2005
nighttime: The lowest low: 70° F; the highest low: 80°
(Celsius: 20.9 to 26.4)

daytime: The highest high: 101°; the lowest high: 88°
(Celsius: 31.3 to 38.3).

This is not so different from the hottest months (Oct. and Nov.) when the average daily high is 99° F, and the average low is 76° . In the coldest months (June and July), the average daily high is 87° F, while the average daily low is 56° F.

In other words, it's always more summer-like than winter-like here. It'll be interesting to visit California next August when we'll be winding up winter here and entering summer there.


Rain & Shine
Similar to California, most of the rain here in Katherine falls over a few short months: December averages 6.5 inches, January 9 inches, and February nearly 11 inches. However, February 2005 was quite strange, delivering barely more than one inch of rain.

Annual averages with Select Comparisons
(these are all-the-way clear days, not just some-blue-sky days)

Katherine: 132 clear days; 44 inches of rain

Butte County: 219 clear days; 31 inches of rain

Portland, Oregon: 68 clear days; 37-40 inches of rain

San Francisco: 160 clear days; 20 inches of rain

Take note: A Salem, Oregon website boasts that although Salem has only 77 clear days, it has 216 rainless days!

England’s meteorology website says that it rains on one of every three days in England (on average), and it lists number of hours of sunshine annually rather than number of clear days.